The
November 2001 declaration of the Fourth Ministerial
Conference
in Doha, Qatar, provides the mandate for negotiations on a range
of
subjects, and other work including issues concerning the
implementation of the present agreements.
The
21 subjects listed in the Doha Declaration (and the paragraphs
that
refer to them). Most of these involve negotiations; other work
includes actions under “implementation”, analysis and
monitoring:
“Implementation” is short-hand for
problems raised particularly by
developing countries about the implementation of the current WTO
Agreements, i.e. the agreements arising from the Uruguay Round
negotiations.
In
Doha this important question was handled in two ways. First,
ministers agreed to adopt around 50 decisions clarifying
the
obligations of developing country member governments with
respect to
issues including agriculture, subsidies, textiles and clothing,
technical barriers to trade, trade-related investment measures
and
rules of origin.
Agreement
on these points required hard bargaining between negotiators
over
the course of nearly three years.
Many
other implementation issues of concern to developing countries
have
not been settled, however. For these issues, Ministers agreed in
Doha on a future work programme for addressing these
matters.
In
paragraph 12 of the Ministerial Declaration, ministers
underscored that they had taken a decision on the 50 or so
measures
in a separate ministerial document (the
14 November 2001 decision on “Implementation-Related
Issues and Concerns”) and pointed out that “negotiations on
outstanding implementation issues shall be an integral part of
the
Work Programme” in the coming years.
The
ministers established a two-track approach. Those issues for
which
there was an agreed negotiating mandate in the declaration would
be
dealt with under the terms of that mandate.
Those
implementation issues where there is no mandate to negotiate,
would
be the taken up as “a matter of priority” by relevant WTO
councils and committees. These bodies are to report on their
progress to the Trade Negotiations Committee by the end of 2002
for
“appropriate action”.
Negotiations on agriculture began in
early 2000, under Article 20 of the WTO Agriculture Agreement. By
November 2001 and the Doha Ministerial Conference, 121 governments
had submitted a large number of negotiating proposals.
These negotiations will continue, but now
with the mandate given by the Doha Declaration, which also includes a series
of deadlines. The declaration builds on the work already undertaken,
confirms and elaborates the objectives, and sets a timetable. Agriculture is
now part of the single undertaking in which virtually all the linked
negotiations are to end by 1 January 2005.
The declaration reconfirms the long-term
objective already agreed in the present WTO Agreement: to establish a fair
and market-oriented trading system through a programme of fundamental
reform. The programme encompasses strengthened rules, and specific
commitments on government support and protection for agriculture. The
purpose is to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions in world
agricultural markets.
Without prejudging the outcome, member
governments commit themselves to comprehensive negotiations aimed at:
market access: substantial reductions
exports subsidies: reductions of, with a view to phasing out,
all forms of these
domestic support: substantial reductions for supports that
distort trade
The declaration makes special and
differential treatment for developing countries integral throughout the
negotiations, both in countries' new commitments and in any relevant new or
revised rules and disciplines. It says the outcome should be effective in
practice and should enable developing countries meet their needs, in
particular in food security and rural development.
The ministers also take note of the
non-trade concerns (such as environmental protection, food security, rural
development, etc) reflected in the negotiating proposals already submitted.
They confirm that the negotiations will take these into account, as provided
for in the Agriculture Agreement.
Negotiations on services were
already almost two years old when they were incorporated into the new Doha
agenda.
The WTO General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS) commits member governments to undertake
negotiations on specific issues and to enter into successive rounds of
negotiations to progressively liberalize trade in services. The first round
had to start no later than five years from 1995.
Accordingly, the services
negotiations started officially in early 2000 under the Council for Trade in
Services. In March 2001, the Services Council fulfilled a key element in the
negotiating mandate by establishing the negotiating guidelines and
procedures.
The Doha Declaration endorses
the work already done, reaffirms the negotiating guidelines and procedures,
and establishes some key elements of the timetable including, most
importantly, the deadline for concluding the negotiations as part of a
single undertaking.
The negotiations take place
in “special sessions” of the Services Council and
regular meetings of its relevant subsidiary committees or working
parties.
The ministers agreed to
launch tariff-cutting negotiations on all non-agricultural products. The aim
is “to reduce, or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the
reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff
escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of
export interest to developing countries”. These negotiations shall
take fully into account the special needs and interests of developing and
least-developed countries, and recognize that these countries do not need to
match or reciprocate in full tariff-reduction commitments by other
participants.
At the start, participants
have to reach
agreement on how (“modalities”) to conduct the
tariff-cutting exercise (in the
Tokyo Round, the participants used an agreed mathematical formula
to cut tariffs
across the board; in the Uruguay Round, participants negotiated
cuts product by
product). The agreed procedures would include studies and
capacity-building
measures that would help least-developed countries participate
effectively in
the negotiations. Back in Geneva, negotiators decided that the
“modalities”
should be agreed by 31 May 2003. When that date was missed,
members agreed on
1 August 2004 on a new target: the Hong Kong Ministerial
Conference in December
2005.
While average customs duties
are now at their lowest levels after eight GATT Rounds, certain tariffs
continue to restrict trade, especially on exports of developing countries
— for instance “tariff peaks”, which are relatively high
tariffs, usually on “sensitive” products, amidst generally low
tariff levels. For industrialized countries, tariffs of 15% and above are
generally recognized as “tariff peaks”.
Another example is
“tariff escalation”, in which higher import duties are applied
on semi-processed products than on raw materials, and higher still on
finished products. This practice protects domestic processing industries and
discourages the development of processing activity in the countries where
raw materials originate.
The negotiations take place
in a Market Access Negotiating
Group.
Stock taking: 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico)
Deadline: originally by
1 January 2005,
now unofficially by end 2006, part of single
undertaking
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights
(TRIPS) (pars 17–19)
> back to
top
TRIPS and public health. In the
declaration, ministers stress that it is important to implement and
interpret the TRIPS Agreement in a way that supports public health
— by promoting both access to existing medicines and the creation of
new medicines. They refer to their separate declaration on this subject.
This separate declaration on
TRIPS and public health is designed to respond to concerns about the
possible implications of the TRIPS Agreement for access to medicines.
It emphasizes that the TRIPS
Agreement does not and should not prevent member governments from acting to
protect public health. It affirms governments’ right to use the
agreement’s flexibilities in order to avoid any reticence the
governments may feel.
The separate declaration
clarifies some of the forms of flexibility available, in particular
compulsory licensing and parallel importing. (For an explanation of these
issues, go to the main TRIPS pages on the WTO website)
For the Doha agenda, this
separate declaration sets two specific task. The TRIPS Council has
to find a solution to the problems countries may face in making use of
compulsory licensing if they have too little or no pharmaceutical
manufacturing capacity, reporting to the General Council on this by the end
of 2002.(this
was achieved in August, 2003, see intellectual property section of the
“Agreements” chapter.) The declaration also extends the
deadline for least-developed countries to apply provisions on pharmaceutical
patents until 1 January 2016.
Geographical indications
— the registration system. Geographical indications are place
names (in some countries also words associated with a place) used to
identify products with particular characteristics because they come from
specific places. The WTO TRIPS Council has already started work on a
multilateral registration system for geographical indications for wines and
spirits. The Doha Declaration sets a deadline for completing the
negotiations: the Fifth Ministerial Conference in 2003.
These negotiations take place
in “special sessions” of the TRIPS Council.
Geographical indications — extending the
“higher level of protection” to other products. The
TRIPS Agreement provides a higher level of protection to geographical
indications for wines and spirits. This means they should be protected even
if there is no risk of misleading consumers or unfair competition. A number
of countries want to negotiate extending this higher level to other
products. Others oppose the move, and the debate in the TRIPS Council has
included the question of whether the relevant provisions of the TRIPS
Agreement provide a mandate for extending coverage beyond wines and
spirits.
The Doha Declaration notes
that the TRIPS Council will handle this under the
declaration’s paragraph 12 (which deals with implementation issues).
Paragraph 12 offers two tracks: “(a) where we provide a specific
negotiating mandate in this Declaration, the relevant implementation issues
shall be addressed under that mandate; (b) the other outstanding
implementation issues shall be addressed as a matter of priority by the
relevant WTO bodies, which shall report to the Trade Negotiations Committee
[TNC], established under paragraph 46 below, by the end of 2002 for
appropriate action.”
In papers circulated at the
Ministerial Conference, member governments expressed different
interpretations of this mandate.
Argentina said it understands
“there is no agreement to negotiate the ‘other outstanding
implementation issues’ referred to under (b) and that, by the end of
2002, consensus will be required in order to launch any negotiations on
these issues”.
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
EU, Hungary, India, Liechtenstein, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, the
Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey
argued that there is a clear mandate to negotiate immediately.
Reviews of TRIPS provisions. Two
reviews have been taking place in the TRIPS Council, as required by the
TRIPS Agreement: a review of Article 27.3(b) which deals with patentability
or non-patentability of plant and animal inventions, and the protection of
plant varieties; and a review of the entire TRIPS Agreement (required by
Article 71.1).
The Doha Declaration says
that work in the TRIPS Council on these reviews or any other
implementation issue should also look at: the relationship between the TRIPS
Agreement and the UN Convention on Biodiversity; the protection of
traditional knowledge and folklore; and other relevant new developments that
member governments raise in the review of the TRIPS Agreement. It adds that
the TRIPS Council’s work on these topics is to be guided by the TRIPS
Agreement’s objectives (Article 7) and principles (Article 8), and
must take development fully into account.
Report to the
General Council — solution on compulsory licensing and lack of
pharmaceutical production
capacity: originally by end of 2002, decision agreed 30 April
2003.
Report to TNC
— action on outstanding implementation issues
under par 12: by end
of 2002 (missed)
Deadline
— negotiations on geographical indications
registration system (wines
and spirits): by 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
(missed)
Deadline
— negotiations specifically mandated in Doha
Declaration: originally by 1 January
2005, now unofficially by end 2006
Least-developed
countries to apply
pharmaceutical patent provisions: 2016
This is a “Singapore issue” i.e. a working group set
up by the 1996 Singapore Ministerial Conference has been studying it.
In the period up to the 2003
Ministerial Conference, the declaration instructs the working group
to focus on clarifying the scope and definition of the issues, transparency,
non-discrimination, ways of preparing negotiated commitments, development
provisions, exceptions and balance-of-payments safeguards, consultation and
dispute settlement. The negotiated commitments would be modelled on those
made in services, which specify where commitments are being made
— “positive lists” — rather than making broad
commitments and listing exceptions.
The declaration also spells
out a number of principles such as the need to balance the interests of
countries where foreign investment originates and where it is invested,
countries’ right to regulate investment, development, public interest
and individual countries’ specific circumstances. It also emphasizes
support and technical cooperation for developing and least-developed
countries, and coordination with other international organizations such as
the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Since the 1 August 2004 decision,
this subject has been dropped from the Doha agenda.
Continuing work in
working group with
defined agenda: to 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
Negotiations: after 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico) subject to “explicit
consensus” on
modalities with deadline: by 1 January 2005, part of single
undertaking. But no consensus; dropped from Doha agenda in 1
August
2004 decision
This is another
“Singapore issue”, with a working group set up in 1996 to study
the subject.
In the period up to the 2003
Ministerial Conference, the declaration instructs the working group
to focus on clarifying:
core
principles including transparency, non-discrimination and procedural
fairness, and provisions on “hardcore” cartels (i.e. cartels
that are formally set up)
ways of handling voluntary cooperation
on competition policy among WTO member governments
support for progressive reinforcement
of competition institutions in developing countries through capacity
building
The declaration says the work
must take full account of developmental needs. It includes technical
cooperation and capacity building, on such topics as policy analysis and
development, so that developing countries are better placed to evaluate the
implications of closer multilateral cooperation for various developmental
objectives. Cooperation with other organizations such as the UN Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is also included.
Since the 1 August 2004 decision,
this subject has been dropped from the Doha agenda.
Continuing work in
working group with
defined agenda: to 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
Negotiations: after 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico) subject to “explicit
consensus” on
modalities with deadline: by 1 January 2005, part of single
undertaking. But no consensus; dropped from Doha agenda in 1
August
2004 decision
A third “Singapore
issue” that was handled by a working group set up by the
Singapore Ministerial Conference in 1996.
The Doha Declaration says
that the “negotiations shall be limited to the transparency aspects
and therefore will not restrict the scope for countries to give preferences
to domestic supplies and suppliers”
— it is separate from the plurilateral Government Procurement
Agreement.
The declaration also stresses
development concerns, technical assistance and capacity building.
Since the 1 August 2004
decision, this
subject has been dropped from the Doha agenda.
Continuing work in
working group with
defined agenda: to 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
Negotiations: after 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico) subject to “explicit
consensus” on
modalities with deadline: by 1 January 2005, part of single
undertaking. But no consensus; dropped from Doha agenda in 1
August
2004 Decision.
A fourth “Singapore
issue” kicked off by the 1996 Ministerial Conference.
The declaration recognizes
the case for “further expediting the movement, release and clearance
of goods, including goods in transit, and the need for enhanced technical
assistance and capacity building in this area”.
In the period until the Fifth
Ministerial Conference in 2003, the WTO Goods Council, which had
been working on this subject since 1997,
“shall review and as appropriate, clarify and improve relevant
aspects of
Articles 5 (‘Freedom of Transit’), 8 (‘Fees and
Formalities Connected with
Importation and Exportation’) and 10 (‘Publication and
Administration of Trade
Regulations’) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT 1994) and
identify the trade facilitation needs and priorities of Members,
in particular
developing and least-developed countries”.
Those issues were cited in
the
1 August 2004 decision that broke the Cancún
deadlock. Members agreed to start
negotiations on trade facilitation, but not the three other
Singapore issues.
The ministers agreed to
negotiations on the Anti-Dumping (GATT Article 6) and Subsidies agreements.
The aim is to clarify and improve disciplines while preserving the basic,
concepts, principles of these agreements, and taking into account the needs
of developing and least-developed participants.
In overlapping negotiating
phases, participants
first indicated which provisions of these two agreements they
think should be the subject of clarification and improvement in the
next phase of negotiations. The ministers mention specifically
fisheries subsidies as one sector important to developing countries and
where participants should aim to clarify and improve WTO disciplines.
Negotiations take place in
the Rules Negotiating
Group.
WTO rules say regional trade
agreements have to meet certain conditions. But interpreting the wording of
these rules has proved controversial, and has been a central element in the
work of the Regional Trade Agreements Committee. As a result, since 1995 the
committee has failed to complete its assessments of whether individual trade
agreements conform with WTO provisions.
This is now an important
challenge, particularly when nearly all member governments are parties to
regional agreements, are negotiating them, or are considering negotiating
them. In the Doha Declaration, members agreed to negotiate a solution,
giving due regard to the role that these agreements can play in fostering
development.
The declaration mandates
negotiations aimed at “clarifying and improving disciplines and
procedures under the existing WTO provisions applying to regional trade
agreements. The negotiations shall take into account the developmental
aspects of regional trade agreements.”
These negotiations fell into
the general
timetable established for virtually all negotiations under the
Doha Declaration.
The original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed and the current
unofficial
aim is to finish the talks by the end of 2006. The 2003 Fifth
Ministerial
Conference in Mexico was intended to take stock of progress,
provide any necessary political guidance, and take decisions as
necessary.
Negotiations take place in
the Rules Negotiating
Group.
The 1994 Marrakesh
Ministerial Conference mandated WTO member governments to conduct a review
of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU, the WTO agreement on dispute
settlement) within four years of the entry into force of the WTO Agreement
(i.e. by 1 January 1999).
The Dispute Settlement Body
(DSB) started the review in late 1997, and held a series of informal
discussions on the basis of proposals and issues that members identified.
Many, if not all, members clearly felt that improvements should be made to
the understanding. However, the DSB could not reach a consensus on the
results of the review.
The Doha Declaration mandates
negotiations
and states (in par 47) that these will not be part of the single
undertaking
— i.e. that they will not be tied to the overall success or failure
of the other negotiations mandated by the declaration.
Originally set to conclude by May 2003, the negotiations are
continuing without
a deadline.
Multilateral environmental
agreements. Ministers agreed to launch negotiations on the
relationship between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set
out in multilateral environmental agreements. The negotiations will address
how WTO rules are to apply to WTO members that are parties to environmental
agreements, in particular to clarify the relationship between trade measures
taken under the environmental agreements and WTO rules.
So far no measure affecting
trade taken under an environmental agreement has been challenged in the
GATT-WTO system.
Information exchange. Ministers
agreed to negotiate procedures for regular information exchange between
secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements and the WTO.
Currently, the Trade and Environment Committee holds an information session
with different secretariats of the multilateral environmental agreements
once or twice a year to discuss the trade-related provisions in these
environmental agreements and also their dispute settlement mechanisms. The
new information exchange procedures may expand the scope of existing
cooperation.
Observer status. Overall, the
situation concerning the granting of observer status in the WTO to other
international governmental organizations is currently blocked for political
reasons. The negotiations aim to develop criteria for observership in
WTO.
Trade barriers on environmental goods and
services. Ministers also agreed to negotiations on the reduction
or elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and
services. Examples of environmental goods and services are catalytic
converters, air filters or consultancy services on wastewater
management.
Fisheries subsidies. Ministers
agreed to clarify and improve WTO rules that apply to fisheries subsidies.
The issue of fisheries subsidies has been studied in the Trade and
Environment Committee for several years. Some studies demonstrate these
subsidies can be environmentally damaging if they lead to too many fishermen
chasing too few fish.
Negotiations on these issues,
including concepts of what are the relevant environmental goods and
services, take place in “special sessions” of the Trade and
Environment Committee. Negotiations on market access for environmental
goods and services take place in the Market Access Negotiating Group
and Services Council “special sessions”.
Ministers instructed the
Trade and Environment
Committee, in pursuing work on all items on its agenda, to pay
particular attention to the following areas:
The effect of environmental
measures on market access, especially for developing countries.
“Win-win-win” situations:
when eliminating or reducing trade restrictions and distortions would
benefit trade, the environment and development.
Intellectual property. Paragraph 19 of
the Ministerial Declaration mandates the TRIPs Council to continue
clarifying the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Biological
Diversity Convention. Ministers also ask the Trade and Environment Committee
to continue to look at the relevant provisions of the TRIPS agreement.
Environmental labelling requirements.
The Trade and Environment Committee is to look at the impact of
eco-labelling on trade and examine whether existing WTO rules stand in the
way of eco-labelling policies. Parallel discussions are to take place in the
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
For all these issues: when working on
these (market access, “win-win-win” situations, intellectual
property and environmental labelling), the Trade and Environment Committee
should identify WTO rules that would need to be clarified.
General: ministers recognize the
importance of technical assistance and capacity building programmes for
developing countries in the trade and environment area. They also encourage
members to share expertise and experience on national environmental
reviews.
The Doha Declaration endorses
the work already done on electronic commerce and instructs the General
Council to consider the most appropriate institutional arrangements for
handling the work programme, and to report on further progress to the Fifth
Ministerial Conference.
The declaration on electronic
commerce from the Second Ministerial Conference in Geneva, 1998, said that
WTO members will continue their practice of not imposing customs duties on
electronic transmissions. The Doha Declaration states that members will
continue this practice until the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
Small economies face specific
challenges in their participation in world trade, for example lack of
economy of scale or limited natural resources.
The Doha Declaration mandates
the General Council to examine these problems and to make
recommendations to the next Ministerial Conference as to what trade-related
measures could improve the integration of small economies.
Many developing countries face serious
external debt problems and have been through financial crises. WTO ministers
decided in Doha to establish a Working Group on Trade, Debt and
Finance to look at how trade-related measures can contribute to find a
durable solution to these problems. This working group will report to the
General Council which will in turn report to the next Ministerial
Conference.
A number of provisions in the
WTO agreements mention the need for a transfer of technology to take place
between developed and developing countries.
However, it is not clear how
such a transfer takes place in practice and if specific measures might be
taken within the WTO to encourage such flows of technology.
WTO ministers decided in Doha
to establish a working group to examine the issue. The working group
will report to the General Council which itself will report to the next
Ministerial Conference.
Through various paragraphs of
the Doha Declaration, WTO member governments have made new commitments on
technical cooperation and capacity building.
For example, the section on
the relationship between trade and investment includes a call (par 21) for
enhanced support for technical assistance and capacity building in this
area.
Within the specific heading
“technical cooperation and capacity building”, paragraph 41
lists all the references to commitments on technical cooperation within the
Doha Declaration: paragraphs 16 (market access for non-agricultural
products), 21 (trade and investment), 24 (trade and competition policy), 26
(transparency in government procurement), 27 (trade facilitation), 33
(environment), 38-40 (technical cooperation and capacity building), 42 and
43 (least-developed countries). (Paragraph 2 in the preamble is also
cited.)
Under this heading (i.e. pars
38-41), WTO member governments reaffirm all technical cooperation and
capacity building commitments made throughout the declaration and add
general commitments:
The Secretariat, in
coordination with other relevant agencies, is to encourage WTO
developing-country members to consider trade as a main element for reducing
poverty and to include trade measures in their development
strategies.
The agenda set out in the Doha
Declaration gives priority to small, vulnerable, and transition economies,
as well as to members and observers that do not have permanent delegations
in Geneva.
Technical assistance must be delivered
by the WTO and other relevant international organizations within a coherent
policy framework.
The Director-General
reported to the General Council in December 2002 and to the
Fifth Ministerial Conference on the implementation and adequacy of these
new commitments.
Following the
declaration’s instructions to develop a plan ensuring long-term
funding for WTO technical assistance, the General Council adopted on
20 December 2001 (one month after the Doha
conference) a new budget that increased technical assistance
funding by 80% and
established a Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund. The fund
now has an
annual budget of 24 million Swiss francs.
Many developed countries have
now significantly decreased or actually scrapped tariffs on imports from
least-developed countries (LDCs).
In the Doha declaration, WTO
member governments commit themselves to the objective of duty-free,
quota-free market access for LDCs’ products and to consider additional
measures to improve market access for these exports.
Members also agree to try to
ensure that least-developed countries can negotiate WTO membership faster
and more easily.
Some technical assistance is
targeted specifically for least-developed countries. The Doha Declaration
urges WTO member donors to significantly increase their
contributions.
In addition, the
Sub-Committee for LDCs (a subsidiary body of the WTO Committee on Trade
and Development) designed a work programme
un February 2002, as instructed by the Doha Declaration, taking
into account the parts of the declaration related to trade that was issued
at the UN LDC
Conference.
The WTO agreements contain
special provisions which give developing countries special rights. These
special provisions include, for example, longer time periods for
implementing agreements and commitments or measures to increase trading
opportunities for developing countries.
In the Doha Declaration,
member governments agree that all special and differential treatment
provisions should be reviewed with a view to strengthening them and making
them more precise.
More specifically, the
declaration (together with the Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and
Concerns) mandates the Trade and Development Committee to identify
which of those special and differential treatment provisions are mandatory,
and to consider the implications of making mandatory those which are
currently non-binding.
The Decision on
Implementation-Related
Issues and Concerns instructed the committee to make its
recommendations
for the General Council before July 2002. But because members needed more
time, this was postponed to the end of
July 2005.
The
November 2001 declaration of the Fourth Ministerial
Conference
in Doha, Qatar, provides the mandate for negotiations on a range
of
subjects, and other work including issues concerning the
implementation of the present agreements.
THE
DOHA TEXTS